There's a high bar set by digital leaders such as Facebook, Apple, Google and Amazon, and, as a result, other companies can't always live up to the expectations of customers who demand lightning-fast apps that are easy to navigate.

The App Attention Index 2017, a report released this week from AppDynamics, a software company that focuses on application and business performance monitoring and which was acquired by Cisco in early 2017 for $3.7 billion, shows that every second counts for users. Even minor issues with an app or a website can have a significant impact on the success or failure of a brand. The study shows that 60% of people have deleted an app or abandoned a website after just one attempt to use it, if there were problems with performance, and a total of 80% will eventually delete an app if problems continue. This abandonment rate impacts the digital transformations that many companies are doing.

The study showed that banking and retail are impacted the most by poor user experiences with 60% of consumers saying they'd change banks if the mobile app wasn't up to par, said Matt Chotin, senior director for AppDynamics.

"The study is really supporting why companies are doing digital transformations and what are the risks. Two-thirds of respondents said they've uninstalled an application if it didn't perform well after its first use. Expectations as to what performance and innovation they will deliver is exceeding all bounds," Chotin said.

"It also means the customers are fickle. They're willing to move to other brands, other companies, if your application doesn't perform," he said, explaining that it's so important to customers because, "these are the apps that people are using to run their lives. Banking apps, retail apps. If someone is willing to move their money because of their mobile experience, imagine the risk when you're' a consumer brand where everybody is competing on price anyway. They'll go somewhere else for their impulse buy."

The lesson to take away from the study is that the enterprise needs to recognize the importance of apps, and what's needed for successful digital transformations, if they expect to survive this digital age.

Rowan Trollope, senior vice president and general manager of IoT and innovations for Cisco, said apps are crucial for digital transformations and how AppDynamics works with businesses to improve their apps is why Cisco was so interested in acquiring the company.

"They provide very powerful insight. They understand the power of application instrumentation in a world where every company is going to be a tech company. Technology is basically transforming every company," Trollope said, calling that insight derived from software, "their secret sauce."

"AppDynamics self-learns your business transactions with no human interactions. They can instrument your mobile app and provide details to IT," Trollope said.

AppDynamics uses intent-driven networking and intent-driven infrastructure and provides software that can help a company understand the difference of a flow of traffic from a buyer on its website than the flow of traffic from someone just browsing and not likely to make a purchase. It allows for optimization of the app by understanding who is most likely to be a buyer, and put more resources on that customer, rather than a more casual shopper.

Chotin said that apps can drive a legacy business. "It requires them to be able to move quicker, faster. How quickly are you deploying your changes? How quickly are you realizing how those changes are impacting your business? Real time has to be minutes or seconds. Not days or weeks."

Adapting from legacy monolithic applications to multi-tier applications are also key. "All of the data that's flowing through from all of those systems, how do you leverage that to make intelligent decisions?" Chotin said.

"The message is care about performance. It's about understanding what are the important things that your users are doing. Think about how your users are actually using your app," Chotin said.

Three takeaways for TechRepublic readers:

Mobile apps are a crucial part of a company's digital transformation.

A new report shows that 60% of people have deleted an app or abandoned a website after just one attempt to use it, if it doesn't work as expected.

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About Teena Maddox

Teena Maddox is a Senior Writer at TechRepublic, covering hardware devices, IoT, smart cities and wearables. She ties together the style and substance of tech. Teena has spent 20-plus years writing business and features for publications including Peo...

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Teena Maddox is a Senior Writer at TechRepublic, covering hardware devices, IoT, smart cities and wearables. She ties together the style and substance of tech. Teena has spent 20-plus years writing business and features for publications including People, W and Women's Wear Daily.